Armed robberies on the rise in Canberra

ACT Police Minister John Hargreaves says officers have been working hard to reduce the number of armed robberies in Canberra.

Crime figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show there were 106 armed robberies last year, up from 68 the year before.

Mr Hargreaves says Police have been targeting violent crime this year and have already made an impact.

"Just having police officers visible on the streets doesn't actually help prevent crime because there's no body of evidence being built up to take people on in court," he said.

"It also isn't very proactive, if we have intelligence-led processes where people tell us all about what's been happening in the neighbourhood, then the prediction of when a crime is likely to happen is far easier."

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